Nicole felt like she was awake, but her eyelids felt so heavy, like they were glued shut. The smell of antiseptic and the beeping of machines told her that she was in the hospital…but why? Did Spider shoot her? Oh, God! Liam! She pulled her eyes open and saw nothing for a few seconds other than fuzzy, gray hues. “Liam!” she croaked out. Her mouth was as dry as a bone and her tongue and throat felt like sandpaper.

“Your mom has him,” an unfamiliar male voice answered her cry. She squinted and her vision began to return. The white walls of the hospital room shone obnoxiously underneath the fluorescent lights from above. Her head was pounding, but she turned it toward the sound of the voice. A large, very muscular man with a red skullcap on and brownish/blond hair hanging out from underneath it was looking at her with huge brown eyes that looked like they belonged to a doe in the woods.

“Who…?”

“Levi,” he said. She looked at the kutte he was wearing and recognized it immediately. He was one of Spider’s brothers. She felt panic in her chest and she tried to sit up. “Whoa there, I don’t think you’re supposed to get up yet.”

“I need my baby.”

“He’s okay. Your mom was here a little while ago; she just went to visit your dad and then she was going to take the baby and go home.”

“Who had the baby while she was here? Where’s Zack? Is Zack okay?”

“Hey, don’t get all worked up, that can’t be good for you. Zack’s fine. He’s here, out front, talking to the police. It was his turn. Your baby is okay and so is your friend and your mom. Your dad is here somewhere, but last I heard, he’s okay too.”

Nicole closed her eyes again and fuzzy memories of what had happened washed over her. Zack had her in his warm arms and Spider’s chest…God, she’d stabbed him and then he’d been shot…twice. She opened her eyes again. “Is Spider…is he…?”

“Dead?” She nodded. “Yeah, he’s dead. He won’t be hurting anyone else. He’s still being a pain in the ass, though. His mother has the whole fucking police force trying to arrest someone over all this.”

“It was his fault. He kidnapped us. I need to talk to the police.” She tried to get up again and Levi put a huge but gentle hand on her shoulder and pushed her back onto the bed.

“We told them. Your friend told them, and your mom and me and now Zack. It’ll be okay. You need to rest.”

“What is wrong with me?” she finally asked, looking down at her body, still wondering if she was shot.

“You passed out. Doc said you were dehydrated or something. The baby is okay, though.”

“Thank God…Liam…my sweet boy.” She started to close her eyes again; they were still so heavy. Sleep was pulling at her again so she wasn’t sure she’d heard him right when Levi’s deep voice said:

“Yeah, Liam and the one in your belly.”

Nicole ripped her eyes open and looked into the doe eyes of the biker at her bedside. “The what?”

“Oh, fuck. Never mind.”

She reached up with the hand that didn’t have an IV in it and grabbed the front of his kutte. “What. Did. You. Say?”

“I thought you knew. Don’t women know when they’re pregnant?”

Nicole let go of his vest and dropped back down on the pillow. She put her hand on her belly. “I’m pregnant…Jesus.” She closed her eyes again and then ripped them back open. “Does Zack know?”

Levi nodded. “The doc told him the baby was okay – and come to think of it, his face looked as pale as yours does right now.”

“Pale? Like he was disappointed?”

Levi smiled then. “Nah, like he was surprised. He started grinning like an idiot after that for a while. Then he got real pissy about you not waking up yet and yelled at the nurses. Luckily, the police wanted to talk to him just about the time they were going to call security on him, I think.”

Nicole smiled and rubbed her belly. She was carrying Zack’s baby. “Levi, can you do me a favor?”

“Sure.”

“Can you call my nurse or doctor?”

“Sure.” He stood up and towered over her and the bed. “I’ll be right back.” She watched as he stepped outside the curtain that separated her bed from the others in the emergency room and then she closed her eyes again. She was pregnant…with Zack’s baby. She didn’t know how he was going to feel about that, but the idea of it filled her with warmth.

“Miss Swafford?” She opened her eyes to see an older man with white hair and glasses, wearing a pair of blue scrubs, standing next to the bed. “I’m Doctor Mason. How are you feeling?”

“I’m tired and my head hurts a little, but otherwise okay. Doctor Mason…I’m pregnant?”

“Yes.”

“Told you so,” Levi’s voice said from the edge of the curtain. Nicole smiled.

“How far along?”

“We’re going to do an ultrasound, but I’d say about eight weeks. Otherwise, you were severely dehydrated and your blood sugar was very low. If you want to carry this baby to term, Miss Swafford, you’ll have to take better care of yourself.” She almost laughed at him for stating the obvious but instead she said:

“I will, Doctor.” A nurse pushed past Levi and came into the small cubicle pushing an ultrasound machine. “Can we wait…until my…until the baby’s father comes back?” The doctor and nurse looked at each other and the nurse said:

“Are you sure you want him here? We have a social worker you can talk to…” Nicole heard Levi snort.

“Of course I want him here. He didn’t do any of this. He would never hurt me. He saved me. If he’s been upset here, it’s just because of the horrible time we’ve had. Please don’t judge him. He’s the most incredible, wonderful man in the world.” Nicole saw Levi step back out of the corner of her eye and Zack step in. She looked at him and smiled. He was grinning at her.

“Looks like I came in right on cue. If you had more nice things to say about me, though, you can go on.”

She giggled. “I have too many. We don’t have time for all that, though. The doctor was going to let us see our baby.” Zack stepped up to the edge of her bed and took her outstretched hand. She felt his tremble in hers as he said:

“Our baby…wow, words you never think you’ll hear.”

The nurse began strapping her to the machine, seemingly oblivious to the serious conversation they were having. “Are you disappointed? I didn’t mean to…”

He squeezed her hand. “Disappointed? Fuck, no. I’m over the fucking moon.” The nurse gave him a sharp look and he rolled his eyes. “Oh, get over it, it’s just a fucking word. I just found out I’m going to be a dad. I should be able to scream ‘fuck’ from the rooftops if I want.” She shook her head and went about what she was doing. Zack looked back down at Nicole’s face and said, “Only one thing in my life made me happier.”

“What was that?”

“Finding you, today. If I had lost you…” His hand shook again and she closed hers around it tighter.

“You didn’t. You saved me.”

He grinned. “You were doing a pretty damned good job of saving yourself. Stacey, your mom and dad and Liam, they’re all safe, because of you. I’m so proud of you, baby.”

“Are the police still here?”

Zack wrinkled his nose. “Yeah, they’re still asking questions, like anyone cares that…shit, I’m sorry. I guess I should feel something, since he was Liam’s father and all.”

“He was never a father,” she said. “I am curious about what happened, though…he was doing so well…” The sound of a heartbeat stopped her. She looked at the monitor on the machine in front of her. Zack was staring at it too with his brows drawn together in the center. The doctor pointed at a peanut-sized mass in the center of the picture on the monitor and said:

“There’s your baby.”

Nicole felt her heart swell as she looked at the picture, but when she looked up and saw the look on Zack’s face, she thought it just might burst. He looked slightly confused as he stared at the monitor, but the awe in his eyes was apparent. At last he looked down at her and said, “He looks just like me, lucky little bastard.”

“He’s a she,” Nicole said and burst into laughter.